Problem
Two months ago, the Win* 10 installed on my old laptop crashed with
blue screen on startup. Two weeks ago, I created a Xubuntu 18.04
LTS 64-bit Live USB and set up the dualboot. However, the fan
was still giving out consideralbe noise and heat under Xubuntu 18.04
(installed in /dev/sda7).
Many end users’ reaction
They’ll simply buy a new PC. This had given rise to industrial parks in Guiyu (貴嶼), one of the world’s largest e-waste village. I’m so shocked to see that Hong Kong appears on the top of the linked article.
My own way
是以聖人常善救人，故無棄人；常善救物，故無棄物。是謂襲明。故善人者，不善人之師；不善人者，善人之資。不貴其師，不愛其資，雖智大迷，是謂要妙。
– 《老子》襲明章第二十七
Open the lid and clean the fan. Here’s a list of YouTube videos I watched before actually grabbing my screwdriver.
I opened the lid and cleaned its inner side. The amount of dust on the fan blades was as expected.
However, I was shocked by the dust which had been blocking the exhaust. This had caused the heat to build up inside the case.
I had seriously thought about replacing the thermal paste due to Win* failure. However, having read Ofey’s article, I’ve decided to leave it untouched.
Result
After two hours of cleaning, my Fujitsu Lifebook now runs Xubuntu 18.04 quieter and cooler.
Safety precautions and remarks
A small amount of electrostatic charges from the door knob or a blanket can put a tiny electronic component into intensive care. To avoid this, grounding the working place is recommneded. Nonetheless, I didn’t use the following tools since I couldn’t bought them.
- an antistatic mat
- an antistatic wrist strap (use a wired one)
Use a precision screwdriver set for disassembling your computers since screws of difference types and sizes are found in a computer.
You may see original photos (with higher resolution licensed under CC-BY) in my Flickr album.
